National news

Isaac expected to hit Florida as a hurricane

State declares state of emergency as Republicans gather in Tampa

By

KateGibson

Reuters

Residents survey the damage to their homes in a camp for displaced people in a low-lying area of Port-Au-Prince on Saturday. Tropical Storm Isaac, which is heading for Florida, dumped torrential rains on Haiti, where thousands of people remain homeless more than two years after a devastating earthquake.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Tropical Storm Isaac on Saturday veered northeast toward Cuba and the Florida Keys, where it was projected to make landfall as a hurricane on Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said.

Hurricane warnings and watches were expanded for Florida, which on Saturday declared a state of emergency, as Republicans readied for their national convention in Tampa, where more than 50,000 delegates, journalists and protesters were expected.

Some oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico already had halted as companies evacuated crews from rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

At least three deaths were attributed to Isaac in Haiti, according to media accounts from the flood-stricken, impoverished nation that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

An advisory issued by the hurricane center in Miami at 11 a.m. Eastern placed the Florida Keys and portions of southern Florida’s west coast under a hurricane warning. Parts of Florida’s southeastern coast were put on a hurricane watch.

Isaac’s top winds were 60 miles an hour, with the storm moving northwest at 17 mph, the hurricane advisory said.

The storm was on track to skirt Cuba’s northern coast Saturday and cross the Florida Straits and Keys Sunday. Isaac was forecast to increase to at least a Category 2 hurricane before going ashore near Pensacola, Fla., by the middle of the week, the center said.

Emergency response teams were ready to protect the state’s 19 million residents, and the “hundreds of thousands of visitors” in the state each day, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Saturday in a statement.

The Republican governor said he was leading briefings twice a day with local, state and federal officials, including those involved with the Republican National Convention, where Scott was scheduled to speak Monday.

“Preparation is a key to success and all visitors can be assured they are safe in Florida,” Scott said in the statement.

The GOP convention was scheduled to open Monday, with Mitt Romney expected to be nominated as the party’s presidential candidate during the fourth-day gathering.

In Miami-Dade County, emergency officials said preparations included a plan to close the Port of Miami at 11 p.m. Eastern Saturday until Monday, the time to be announced. The port, among the busiest in the nation, services about 20 shipping lines that cater to cruise lines and cargo ships.

The county’s animal shelter had stopped taking dogs and cats until further notice, and the Miami Zoo was closed Saturday and Sunday.

Tropical-force winds expected to impact south Florida as early as Sunday morning, and residents were urged to gather three days worth of food and other supplies.

“Pray for the best but prepare for the worst. Things have changed in the last 24 hours, things have shifted over to the right and to the east, and we may have a hurricane instead of just a tropical storm,” Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez told a news conference Saturday in urging residents to prepare for a possible hurricane strike on Miami.Watch video here.

BP PLC
BP, -0.97%
was among the energy companies suspending operations in the Gulf of Mexico, an area which accounts for 23% of total U.S. crude-oil production, 7% of natural-gas production and more than 40% of refining capacity, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

BP was evacuating all crew members from its Thunder Horse platform, and other offshore facilities in the Mississippi Canyon, including Na Kika, Horn Mountain and Marlin, “and have temporarily suspended oil and natural gas production there,” BP spokesperson Arturo Silva emailed Saturday afternoon.

Normal operations continue at all other BP-operated facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Williams Co.
WMB, -1.18%
expected to close three platforms in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and evacuate workers Sunday or Monday, according to a notice posted Friday on its website.

Chevron Corp.
CVX, -0.40%
was also evacuating non-essential workers from some offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, where production had not been affected, the company said in an update Friday afternoon.

Apache Corp.
APA, +2.00%
on Saturday started evacuating non-essential workers in the eastern Gulf of Mexico as a precautionary measure, the company said in a statement.

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